The Legal Vulnerability of Extreme Signature Distribution Requirements

The closest analog to HB 1169 (approved by the House and Senate during the 2025 Legislative Session) from another state is Idaho’s geographic distribution requirement created in 2021 via Idaho Senate Bill 1110. The bill expanded Idaho’s existing geographic distribution requirement to require signatures from all 35 legislative districts and was deemed unconstitutional by the Idaho Supreme Court in the same year. [1]

As part of their unanimous ruling declaring SB 1110 unconstitutional, the Court held that the initiative power is a fundamental right, reserved to the people of Idaho, to which strict scrutiny applies. Applying strict scrutiny, the majority ruled that the Secretary of State and the Legislature failed to present a compelling state interest for limiting that right. Further, even if there were a compelling state interest, the majority concluded that the Legislature’s solution—requiring a threshold amount of signatures from every legislative district—was not a narrowly tailored one.

All five justices of the Idaho Supreme Court agreed that by giving “every legislative district veto power over qualifying initiatives and referenda for the ballot,” the ultimate effect of SB 1110 would be to “prevent a perceived, yet unsubstantiated fear of the ‘tyranny of the majority,’ by replacing it with an actual ‘tyranny of the minority.’” [2]

The decision in Reclaim Idaho v. Denney (2021) is the closest precedent that would apply if South Dakota’s HB 1169 were challenged in court, and we feel that South Dakota is likely to lose that litigation. South Dakota taxpayers should not pay the costs for their legislators’ power grab.

Sources:

[1] Senate Bill 1110. 2021. https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2021/legislation/s1110/#:~:text=BALLOT%20INITIATIVES%20%E2%80%93%20Amends%20existing%20law,ballot%20initiative%20or%20referendum%20petitions.

[2] Reclaim Idaho, & the Comm. to Protect & Pres. the Idaho Constitution, Inc. v. Denney, Idaho. 2025. https://statecourtreport.org/sites/default/files/fastcase/converted/Reclaim%20Idaho%2C%20%26%20the%20Comm.%20to%20Protect%20%26%20Pres.%20the%20Idaho%20Constitution%2C%20Inc.%20v.%20Denney%2C%20Idaho%20Docket%20Nos.%2048784.pdf

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